New plan to keep Australian mining strong

Boosting mining exploration through an agreement with the states and territories is part of the federal government's plan to ensure Australia's mining industry has a rosy future.

So too is building confidence in the mining sector among the community.

Both are included in what the coalition says is Australia's first national resources plan in two decades, which Resources Minister Matt Canavan will detail on Thursday.

"The government's vision is to have the world's most advanced, innovative and successful resources sector which delivers sustained prosperity and social development for all Australians," he said in a statement.

"Our work starts now."

Some elements of the plan will be achieved in collaboration with the states and territories at the Council of Australia Governments Energy Council.

That will include an agreement to establish a new critical minerals work program to increase exploration.

The COAG group will also develop a data strategy to remove risk from investment decisions and build community confidence in the sector.

Under the plan, the federal government' will promote a national resources brand to market Australia as an investment destination to the world.

It will also support the development of new resource basins and exploration surveys and improve data in the sector.

The plan comes after Labor leader Bill Shorten vowed to create an Australian Future Mines Centre if his party wins the next election.

The centre would co-ordinate exploration work, lead scientific research and develop the technology needed to explore under deep cover, he told a Minerals Council event earlier on Wednesday.

"The centre will generate the knowledge and know-how to lift the success rate of minerals exploration possibly back to the rates and levels we enjoyed 30 and 40 years ago," he said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison also a mining event on Wednesday night said Australia must counter the "noisy voices" that want to shut the industry down.

"We want you to succeed, I want you to succeed, because a stronger mining industry means a stronger Australia, and a weaker mining industry means a weaker Australia," he said

The announcements comes as new research shows more than a third of mining jobs will be redesigned in five years time as a result of new technologies and a further 42 per cent will be more productive.

But almost a quarter of jobs could potentially be automated because of new technologies, according to the study conducted by Ernst and Young and commissioned by the Minerals Council.

The study also found the industry could be 23 per cent more productive in five years time with the help of new technologies, but that will come at a cost of between $5 billion and $12.8 billion.